Of interest:

César Rodríguez Garavito

Systematic murders

Although the government and the General Attorney’s office insist that the killings of social leaders are isolated, the numbers of violent deaths of leaders (156 in the last 14 months, according to the Ombudsman’s Office) shows otherwise.

I say this after studying the most complete databases on the subject, in addition to the reports of the Ombudsman. Together with Valentina Rozo from Dejusticia, we reviewed case by case, contrasting the names of leaders with other sources about their work and the circumstances of their death. The results, which we will publish in a future article in this newspaper, corroborate and deepen the conclusions of the Ombudsman. There is systematicity in the types of groups that are a frequent target of violence: communal action boards, victim organizations demanding the restitution of their lands, indigenous peoples and anti-mining movements. There are clear patterns in the places where violence occurs, with the departments of Cauca and Antioquia at the top of the list. The murders increased when the peace agreement was signed and one of the common targets has been the political left of Patriotic March and the Peoples’ Congress.